Yellow dragonfly
by Shieru-chan
Summary: Fantasy AU. A long time ago dragons and humans had lived in harmony, but something changed. Harmony turned into war. Dragons should be killed, but the bleeding blond man struggling with death he found and rescued wasn't exactly one. Will he give Kuroko answers about the changes going on? Sacrifices are to be made, and not every love story has a happy ending. Kise/Kuroko.


AN: Hello once again. I have been oh so active lately, quite amazing, isn't it? Decided to type this out to relieve my boredom. Not sure if you guys will like it, because I am actually really sick at the moment. On the last day of first semester at school I managed to get myself a really bad flu, the doc says that I will be lucky if it is not pneumonia. Fuck my life, fuck this snow, this god damned cold and everything else, I wish I lived someplace warm.

Now about the fanfic.

This is set in an alternate universe, with no particular time setting and it is fantasy, so feel free to imagine the surroundings the way you want, though I was actually thinking about ancient China the entire time. I was actually inspired by Coldplay's song Princess of China. Dedicating this story to Auris, coz he actually put up with me while I was busy thinking Kikuro thoughts and ignoring him.

MEH KIKURO, IT **ALWAYS** FUCKS WITH OUR MINDS.

A two shot because I don't wanna bore you guys with my longass one shots.

Special thanks for Emulikule for helping me out with the summary, genres and stupid grammar mistakes. I love you bro, let's get well soon and meet up, alright? Your baka Shieru missed you lots. ~

Without any further ado let's start~

Name: Yellow dragonfly

Pairing: Kise Ryota/Kuroko Tetsuya [main], brief mentions of others

Rating: Heavy T

Warnings: mentions of blood and death, one of the genres is **tragedy**, so read at your own risk.

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Chapter one: _The human and the dragon_

_I could've been a princess, you'd be a king  
Could've had a castle and wore a ring  
But no, you let me go_

You stole my star...  
You stole my star...

_Coldplay- Princess of China_

* * *

They said that you couldn't kill a dragon no matter how hard you tried, for they never actually died. A majestic being sent from either God or Devil itself, meant to live for hundreds, some of them even for thousands of years. A mere human who barely lived for a hundred of years was no match for such a creature, even if you put dozens of people before it. If you went against something like that, the only thing you would meet would be your own end.

It was only natural that these mere human beings tried to find a compromise, doing their best not to anger the fearful sky rulers, worshiped them, bent down to them. Anything and everything to please.

Such hospitality was gladly accepted, a dragon was a highly intelligent being, some of them even blessed with a gift to communicate with humans, even if those were very few, and all was well. For thousands of years they lived in harmony, dragons residing in the depths of forests, not allowing anyone to go near them, and if you did dare to anger one, well it was your own stupid mistake and humans carried on with their own lives.

But then something went terribly wrong.

They had foreseen it, or so was said in old scripts, the tragedy, the change that had befallen them. It wasn't natural for humans and high creatures such as dragons to live in harmony, simply unheard of. Something, or rather someone had to change and those were the dragons.

The rest of that page in the history scripts was left completely blank.

No explanation was given, everything jumped from a date to date, no order whatsoever.

Before the humans knew it, the dragons had forced their way into their lives again. Attacks started, villages were burned, and nothing, absolutely nothing could calm the Devil's beasts—_so much for the Sky Rulers, eh..._ down. Fear seeped through everyone's bone at the mention of them, no one wanted to deal with them. Who would, when your weapons couldn't breach the thick metal like scales and fire was breathed down the back of your neck. No one, fools that's who.

Eventually a way was found, and after some developing, dragon slaughter has begun. Blood dyed the land red, staining it, corpses pilled and neither side was successful.

Negotiations were in order once again.

After fourteen days, it was decided that from every village, a human needs to do a sacrifice, and not just any _sacrifice_.

The most painful sacrifice for a human being or any living creature in existence.

At the end of every month, in every city or village a dragon would appear to collect sacrifices the people had prepared, something precious from every household. But only one of the families was unlucky enough.

An untainted girl was to be sacrificed for the dragons.

That was enough to make the people hate the fearsome beasts more than anything in the world, hatred so dark it was blinding.

No mother would want her child to be taken away from her, no father would agree with it, and no sibling would want to let go of their dearest sister.

And the worst part was that you never knew which household was chosen to give away their daughter. One year it could be yours, next one will be someone else's, or even worse—_yours again_.

Nobody had the right to choose and nobody had the right to go against it. The only thing left was to come to the terms with it, swallow down your sorrows and sew the pretty white clothes that your daughter might wear on the last day you saw her.

No one knew what had happened to these lost girls, but if bloodied shreds of white silk found in the dragon's wake was anything to go by, it was obvious _where exactly_ they ended up.

After enduring for some time, people just gave up. It was too torturous, too cruel; they could no longer bear the way their families cried when a girl was born into a family, cursing it for loss. Enough was enough.

In absolute secret hunting parties were formed. Getting rid of those beasts would certainly do good for everyone. All they needed to do was to go for the lower class ones and not stand out too much. After years of training and adapting, the plan has turned out to become success. The beasts were decreasing in numbers, but the sacrifices were not ended.

So once again, in the end, nobody had won.

There was no way to stop this. No matter how much they tried, killed, slaughtered, the result was the same. Young girls would still be taken from every household every month or so, they were lucky when they decided to give them a few more months, and nothing was solved.

War was never an option. It just brought chaos upon you, and every action taken made you suffer severe consequences. What made him curious was that blank page in history scripts.

What happened? _How did it become like this?_

This was exactly why Kuroko Tetsuya did not enjoy history. It was way too inaccurate and perhaps cruel for his liking.

'No action taken did not suffer consequences' is what his mother used to say and he remembers her words by heart, they're deeply etched into his mind. Just like her warm smile and her light blue hair as it tickled his sleep warmed cheek when she kissed it goodnight, the way her forest green eyes sparkled with mirth. She was so kind and so beautiful and he had missed her. He missed her so much it hurt.

_He missed all of them._

His whole family that slowly withered away like flowers after their most vital part was taken away, no longer fed by water.

Kuroko Kazumi was their water. His _only_ sibling, his older sister. A sister that was taken away more than ten years ago by one of those beasts. Their family was the 'chosen' one that month. Everyone loved Kazumi, she was a beautiful girl with pale almost white hair and deep blue eyes, soft spoken and kind, so kind it made you feel all better after just speaking a few words to her. She was so lively, yet a bit weak for a girl of her age, but she did not let that stop her. She played with their small village's boys as if she was one of them and helped her mother out every chance she could, even going as far as to help their mother and grandmother to sew those white clothes and carefully knitted the shawl like veil herself. Her own death clothes.

No one in their family actually expected Kazumi to be taken. It seemed impossible for them.

He would never ever forget the way their eyes widened, the way his mother fell down, cold and unmoving before his own feet. In the end there was nothing they could do.

Kazumi was gone the next day.

Kuroko—he hates it when they call him _Tetsuya_, it was not like there was anyone in his family left to mix him up with—to this day cannot find peace even when he's asleep. Every time he closes his eyes he thinks about the loved ones he's lost and maybe, just maybe they could have avoided this. His mother, his lively, cheerful mother withered away before his very own eyes after they brought home the only thing that was remaining from Kazumi, her shawl hanging on the branch, the end of it torn and bloodied. His mother said nothing just took it wordlessly, washed it, fixed it and hanged it near the door as if to remind them, to remind herself what they had lost. It took her one year to be reduced to the state where she could no longer raise herself up from the futon and another few months to kill her completely. It wasn't a sickness his grandmother had said while wiping away her green fingers, trying her best to clean away the remains of healing herbs, but sadness and pure sorrow that had killed her.

'There was nothing you could do, Tetsuya, I am so sorry my dear child you had to go through so much…'

Ever since then he had lived with his grandmother. Just the two of them alone in that big house. His grandmother was known in the entire village for her magical healing abilities, she could cure the worst of sicknesses with just a few herbs and Kuroko did his best to learn everything his grandmother had to teach him. If he couldn't save Kazumi's life, his own mother's life, then he could at least try and help out others instead of letting them die. He spent hours upon hours studying various scripts in front of the small flame of their oil lamp until the sun started rising. He had almost never left their home, only sometimes incase his grandmother wanted him to bring some fresh herbs from their garden near the forest, or some other simple tasks and Kuroko was just fine with the way things were. He didn't really need any friends, studying and becoming a good healer was his top priority. Friends could wait.

When he had turned thirteen, his grandmother collapsed in front him in the same fashion his mother had all those years ago when he was only a small child. He tried everything, absolutely everything to try and help his grandmother, just to make her live because he was so scared, so afraid of being alone without a single relative left, but his grandmother just smiled weakly at him as she watched his desperate efforts to save her. She only placed a soft wrinkly palm on his own to stop his movements. What she said Kuroko will never forget.

'That is enough, my sweet Tetsuya. You worked hard. You cannot go against this kind of fate, it is the curse we bear—"

He didn't get it, why wasn't it helping, she wasn't even that old, so _why, why, why—_

"This family was always well known for their short life span… I have accepted this fate long ago. My only regret is that I'll leave you behind to fend for yourself… It will be hard, Tetsuya, but know that we will always be watching over you. And you will _never_ be alone—"

He was so afraid of loneliness, so _so_ afraid…

'I am very proud of you, everyone is and I know that your father- my son would be too.'

Kuroko never knew his father, he died as a hero, or so people said. Killed three dragons all by himself, the fourth one striked the fatal blow. His mother said that he and dad were quite similar in many ways, more reserved and collected. Kuroko enjoyed listening to stories about him a lot.

'When I am gone, I want you to keep on healing people in my place; it is the best thing for you. Don't seek revenge and join the hunting troops, more violence means more blood. Protect them and heal them. Every life you save is valuable and precious, so do well to remember that. '

After that she squeezed something cold into his trembling palm and Kuroko carefully examined it only to find out that it was a simple metal key. From the look of confusion on his face his grandmother smiled weakly and said that it was a heritage from his father, something he had left behind. In the woods, behind their small garden at the edge of the village, hidden by tall ancient trees stood a small shack, a bit run down from all those years of abandonment, but still fully in place. It was perfect for Kuroko if he was to live alone rather than in this huge house all by himself, his grandmother had assured him that it was already tidied up and waiting to be lived at. Kuroko had a nagging suspicion that perhaps his grandmother had known that she was about to pass away. There was nothing he could do but to agree as reluctant as he was, but he knew that it would be better this way. He couldn't live in this house full of warm yet painful memories. With a nod he accepted the key, gripping it tight until his palm was almost bleeding and his grandmother fell asleep.

Two days later just like his mother she was gone.

The last of Kuroko's more cheerful, happier demeanor disappeared into thin air as if it never existed, replacing everything with a mask of indifference, unfit for a child of thirteen years old. The happy Tetsuya was just a shadow of what he used to be, replaced by Kuroko, the amazing healer that lives at edge of the forest. Straight faced and emotionless.

Even if Kuroko wasn't all too friendly with people in village, everyone understood his situation perfectly and liked him ever since he was a little kid, trying his best to catch up with his lively sister. Some men had helped him to move, fix the shack into a fine state and Kuroko was more than grateful even if the only thing he did was nod wordlessly in a thankful way.

He enjoyed it here, living by himself, it was rather nice compared to the rowdiness of their village, the wind felt cool and refreshing against his skin and if you went to the left there was a small lake there infested with all kinds of life, mostly the quiet buzzing of dragonflies lulling him to sleep every time he went there and crawled up on a branch that stretched above the water of that small lake. It was soothing and he would forget all his worries for a while, just watching the dragonflies chase each other in the morning's sun as he tried to keep his sky blue eyes open.

Kuroko was by no means alone; people came by every day from small children with their distraught mothers asking for his help, to old men barely dragging their feet. Kuroko healed them all no matter what injury and in all of their gratitude people tried their best to repay his efforts, so Kuroko was a rare guest at the village, already used to his quiet forest. It felt more like home than that village ever was.

Yet he couldn't help but feel loneliness gnawing him at the same time, every time he looked at his sister's shawl hanging near a mirror next to his bed, pinned with a crystal white dragonfly pin that she used to wear all the time, or when he went to the lakeside to pick some healing herbs, the scent of them reminding his grandmother. He was just a child after all and kids his age had many of friends, they were playing without a care in the world instead of trying to heal the deepest of wounds.

All of that changed one year ago. That was the time a loud and brash teenager that went by the name Kagami Taiga appeared in his life. Kagami was a part of their village's hunting group; they had immediately accepted him as one of their own, even though he was from the other side of their country. Kuroko loved listening to the stories of his hometown, they had lived near the sea and it was so much different than here, the people, the way of life, much more free and not as reserved. It sounded like a wonderful place, that was until the dragons had touched that town. Everyone was killed, Kagami's whole family was dead and he was the only survivor. After years of wandering he had reached this village with his teacher Alex, a beautiful woman from another continent and his sworn older brother Himuro who was so unlike Kagami, quiet and reserved. Immediately the red haired teen joined the hunting group, dead set on killing these beasts that swarmed around their village like a cloud of flies over dead bodies and on his first mission, while trying to show off his impressive skills, ignoring any kinds of teamwork he was injured, which brought them to their first meeting.

Kuroko had never seen anyone this stupid, to jump into danger just like that was beyond foolish, and the gaping hole left in the warrior's left side was sure to scar. Kuroko had worked the whole night without any rest to patch up the red head. When the red eyes opened after two days of sleep the first thing Kuroko did was insult his patient and he had severely miscalculated. Kagami had already regained most of his strength as strong as a young mule as if he wasn't almost stabbed to death and almost attacked Kuroko, his temper flaring, only to have Kuroko's hand hit his side. They had a verbal fight, which Kuroko of course won, and they hated each others guts by the end of the day. Neither one of them were too happy when they realized Kagami had to stay at Kuroko's place, occupying his futon, eating like a grown horse, but after two days of bickering they grew fond of each other and now they were inseparable.

With Kagami came changes in his life. The taller teen was dead set on dragging Kuroko out of his house into the village and then he introduced Kuroko to his friends that were also part of the hunting group. Kuroko remembered that almost all of them had come to his place at least once or twice. Hyuuga Junpei with severe burns across his chest, Kiyoshi Teppei and his injured knee, Izuki Shun and his badly torn torso and the rest of them usually dragging their fallen comrades at Kuroko's place. He was quick to befriend them all, everyone was so nice to him and their little group had gained one more friend that day. At the end of the day, the last member of their party appeared, a short girl Aida Riko, the chief's of their hunting party youngest and only daughter even though she was more of a man than the rest of them put together and not feminine at all. Hyuuga said that she was as scary as an ogre, and Kuroko had the '_pleasure_' to witness it himself when she started beating Kagami up for something stupid he'd done again, it also wasn't much of a surprise when Izuki said that she was their strategist and coach of sorts, sometimes even taking the captain's position if Hyuuga couldn't attend. A truly fearsome lady, Kuroko had thought, and immediately he felt respect and a tinge of fear for her when she had turned his way to glare at him suspiciously. Immediately her cold demeanor melted as she recognized him and turned kind and girly in the matter of seconds, joining them and chatting, still not losing her manly ways. After hearing his story, all she did was wipe a tear straying from her brown eyes and disappeared, only to come back with a ball of black and white fur. Curiously, Kuroko poked the fur ball and the ball yipped back cheerfully, turning around. It was a small husky dog and Kuroko was instantly smitten with those big blue eyes. It was a gift for him, Riko had said. Their dog had given birth to three puppies and Nigou—she named it so because it was the second puppy to be born—was the only one left, looking for a kind master to take care of him.

'It wouldn't be so lonely with this one around.' Riko smiled and the doggy barked cheerfully once more as if in agreement. 'I can assure you.'

And true to her words, Kuroko did not feel all that lonely with Nigou running around the house. The small puppy brightened his day with its liveliness and antics. The days passed just like that, his friends always made sure to pay a visit to him at least once a week, Kagami came by as often as he could, sometimes even every single day to see if Kuroko was fairing well, but keeping distance when he saw Nigou around, sometimes going as far as climbing a tree when the puppy started chasing him, hissing at the dog like a crazy cat. Kuroko couldn't help but let a laugh escape him, his emotionless mask cracking at those moments. A big bad brute scared of a small doggy was just too funny, even if Kagami howled at him that _it was not funny, damn it_—he was bitten by a dog when he was only four years old and these things scared the hell out of him.

It still was funny.

Nigou was a ray of sunshine in Kuroko's hard working life, his biggest joy and it insanely scared him when Nigou disappeared.

He was just there, and he was gone, running deeper into the woods until the blue haired boy could no longer see him and Kuroko was really scared that something might have happened to the small fur ball. Deep forests were off limits at these parts, Kuroko had to admit that even he himself sometimes felt insecure living in it, even if it was only the edge of the dark depths that spread out before him. Kuroko had to get Nigou back, even if it meant going deeper into the forest. If anything was to snatch him while he was searching for his furry companion, then so be it. He was trying to save a friend. Swallowing the fear that was swarming in the back of his throat, he steeled himself and slid down another fallen trunk, dirtying the edges of his light blue robe. It was getting progressively darker, the leaves rustling mysteriously above his head.

There was no sign of black and white fur anywhere. No indication that anything was there at all and that Kuroko was there all alone surrounded by the ancient trees as their branches swayed ways above him, dark leaves making it seem dark and eerie. Suddenly he heard barking ahead of him. Kuroko couldn't mix that sound up with anything else.

Relief flooded him like a river, he had to get Nigou fast and get out of here before they attracted unnecessary attention.

"Nigou! Here, boy, come here!" Kuroko shouted, hoping that perhaps the dog would run to him instead of making him go there, but no such luck. The barking continued, but it certainly did not get closer. Without another thought Kuroko took off running in that direction, slipping on the moss and fallen branches all the while. By the time he reached the place, he was completely out of breath, holding himself up against a thick tree trunk, heaving like a dog, eyes closed. It seemed so… _bright_ compared to the darkness of the forest behind him.

What he saw he will never forget for the rest of his life.

He had run into a clearing in the forest, the sky already turning gray with upcoming downpour. Nigou was beside him barking wildly and running around. There, in the middle of the clearing was a- _a…._

_A dragon._

Yes it was definitely a dragon Kuroko had thought and his body seized up in fear. It only took about three seconds, until the fear disappeared and was changed with suspicion.

Something was wrong. The dragon's breathing was all heavy and ragged as if the majestic creature was choking on something wet and struggling to breathe. Squinting his eyes Kuroko saw red staining the dusty ground red. Blood. It was injured, the creature was dying. Its golden scales were oozing the red liquid, wings torn in several places, long golden claws weakly scratching the ground and the creature moved again weakly, only to slump down on the ground pathetically. Its breathing got weaker and weaker and Kuroko could swear he saw pain on the dragon's face. The beast let out a weak roar that sounded like a whimper, and Kuroko felt his heart squeeze inside his chest as Nigou whimpered beside him, ears dropping. A flash of blinding yellow light started engulfing the dragon and Kuroko covered his eyes to secure them as he watched the dragon come apart, scales disappearing with the light.

Was this how a dragon's death looked like? It was certainly a majestic view, the small flecks of light dancing around in the air, carried by the wind until it disappeared. The wind howled eerily, and the last flashes of light were carried by it in one strong sweep and Kuroko froze, not believing his own eyes.

There, where the dragon laid just second before, was a young blond man laying in his own pool of blood, white robes soaking with the gore, staining the clothes and the dirty ground around him red. Quickly Kuroko ran to his side, Nigou in tow and fell on his knees, pulling the stranger's head onto his lap. Whatever it was that he saw before, a dragon or an illusion was over, what mattered now was that there was a severely injured man with wounds so deep they could kill him off in a second if they weren't treated.

Well. _It wasn't exactly a man either_, Kuroko noted.

The man lying on his lap looked like a handsome human; he was quite tall, all long limbs and lean muscle, his face without a flaw, all angles and straightness, long brown eyelashes creating faint shadows on his high cheekbones, and blond hair. A basic human appearance if it wasn't for four protruding horns, two smaller ones barely noticeable poking through the blond strands and two long ones, just a shade darker than the stranger's hair slightly digging into Kuroko's abdomen on top of his head. His ears were also nothing like a human being's, longer, and sharper. The limbs peaking out from the white robes, turning redder by the second, had some patches where the skin was rough and jagged, and with careful inspection Kuroko noticed that those were in fact small scales, much like the kinds fish had. But the strangest of all was the long yellow tail peaking out from underneath the stranger, limply lying against his legs.

Kuroko had no time to take in this stranger's _quite strange_ appearance when another pained gurgling cough brought him back down to earth. It all felt so surreal, but the black red blood staining his robe was indeed very real. The …_human_ had it really bad, his left arm lying limply, looking as if someone tried to tear it off but gave up on it and deciding ripping at it, his ribcage had three long gashes across it, after peeling off the now red cloth Kuroko saw that the blonds' side also looked like it was bitten at, his right ankle turning black by the second. But what scared Kuroko the most wasn't any of that, but the stranger's throat. It looked like someone had tried to rip it out. The stranger opened his mouth just enough to let more blood push past the pale lips, and Kuroko noticed tiny fangs digging into his own lip, splitting it open. The stranger's eyebrows furrowed even more and his face contorted into a pained expression and Kuroko panicked.

How was he supposed to heal him, if he wasn't strong enough to bring him all the way back to his own place? Was there even a way to help this person? There was so much blood all around them, on this person, on Kuroko's own hands, splashing down on this stranger's hair, running down his wrists. He was going to be sick, _oh god so much blood_, the sweet scent making him sick, the light prickling behind his eyelashes making his dizzy.

_Wait what? Sweet scent?_

_…light?_

Carefully Kuroko opened his eyes, and saw the stranger enveloped by the faint light again. The blond weakly writhed on his lap, lips parting in a soundless scream, breathing ragged. Nigou started barking besides him and Kuroko griped the stranger's shoulders, trying to keep him steady, fear gripping his chest. That light, there was only one meaning to it. This man was going to die,_ he was dying_. Kuroko could not save him.

"Hey, don't die… Please_ live._" Kuroko whispered silently, yet with a certain edge of panic in his voice. The stranger's eyes opened at the sound of his voice, long eyelashes covering yellow glowing, and unseeing eyes. The view was mesmerizing and the stranger barely shook his head, eyes looking to the side at his own arm and Kuroko followed his gaze. The torn left hand was healing, the terrible wounds slowly closing and Kuroko noticed that the same happened to the rest of blonds' wounds, relief washing over him, yet he couldn't help but feel amazed at this sight. The light was slowly healing its owner and Kuroko couldn't help but touch a stray fleck of it swaying before his face. It was warm, like that small lake in the middle of a hot day, when Kuroko liked to put his legs into the pleasing mirror like water. Just like touching the snow it was gone in an instant and he saw the blonds' smile stretching across his face, eyes slowly starting to regain focus, yet still unseeing. Blue met yellow and their eyes were connected for a second before the yellow ones closed, the light was gone, and the blood started seeping again from the deep drawn wounds that were far from fully healed and the stranger's face turned pained again.

Making up his mind and finally finding his resolve, Kuroko moved the strangers head from his lap and moved to heave the stranger up on his back, fully intending to drag him home and heal him properly like any other patient. He took the light as a sign for him to not give up, after all any saved life was precious, everyone mattered. His grandmother said so and he was fully intent on keeping their promise, saving everyone's lives. He was sure that she would have done the same in his place. Taking the stranger's healthy arm, he threw it over his shoulder and held his own free hand to the taller one's torso, keeping him somewhat steady. Now that the panic had worn off, Kuroko noticed that he wasn't in fact all that far away from his little house, but the journey was still long, especially when this dead weight was pulling him down.

He took an unsure step forward, almost falling over but he felt a sharp tug at the end of his robe. It was Nigou; the puppy was pulling him up, trying his best to steady him, paws digging into the slippery ground.

"Thank you Nigou." Kuroko smiled fondly at his furry friend. "If the two of us work together, I am sure that we will get home in no time, and then we can save him, right?"

Nigou's blue eyes brightened and he waved his tail wildly, still mouthful of Kuroko's robe.

And so they began their slow and painful journey back home, with a blonde human with dragon features leaning against Kuroko's back.

* * *

TBC


End file.
